Hinton to lead Dow Jones; Thomson to be WSJ publisher

Sarah Ellison of The Wall Street Journal reports Thursday that News Corp. executive Les Hinton will become the new CEO of Dow Jones & Co. in the wake of current CEO Richard Zannino‘s resignation, and Robert Thomson, currently the editor of The Times of London, will become The Journal’s publisher after Dow Jones is acquired by News Corp. next week.

Thomson will apparently replace current publisher Gordon Crovitz.

Ellison wrote, “Mr. Hinton, who is News International executive chairman, has ties to News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch going back several decades. He was named executive chairman of News International in 1995. Prior to that he was CEO of News America Publishing, whose titles included the New York Post.

“Mr. Zannino’s resignation, which is expected to be the first of a series of executive departures from Dow Jones, highlights the dramatic change about to sweep through the company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Dow Jones Newswires. News Corp’s acquisition of the company, expected to be approved by Dow Jones shareholders at a meeting next Thursday, ends more than a century of control by the Bancroft family.

“Mr. Zannino had expressed a desire to stay at Dow Jones under News Corp’s ownership. What changed his mind isn’t clear although it’s likely that Mr. Murdoch didn’t offer him the role he wanted. News Corp. is expected to shortly name a new management team for Dow Jones. Among the executives expected to follow Mr. Zannino out the door are Dow Jones Chief Financial Officer Bill Plummer, while Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz will relinquish his title.”

Chris Roush is the Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.